Formula 1 teams have offered a first glimpse of their super low downforce Monza wings – with McLaren one of the teams bucking the trend and changing approach compared to 12 months ago.
Despite having a sizeable advantage at the front of the field, McLaren has elected to bring a new rear wing to the Italian Grand Prix to better balance the competing demands of low drag for the straights and downforce for the corners.
The revised wing features a small spoon section in the central section, which will shift it slightly more towards an increase in downforce than what it eventually ran with 12 months ago.
However, it will likely gain both from potentially improved performance in the corners but also a slightly bigger DRS boost.
Last year, McLaren tried out varying downforce levels in practice, trying a super low-drag version, but in the end committed to run the same specification that it raced in the Belgian GP.
This change also comes with McLaren having last year used a wing that featured its controversial mini-DRS design – which helped boost straightline speed by opening up the slot gap at high-speeds.
The idea was only cottoned on to rivals at the subsequent Azerbaijan GP and, following complaints made to the FIA, McLaren eventually agreed to make modifications to stop any flexing.
Ferrari has not made such a big change since last year, but is understood to have prepared two versions of its rear wing for Monza.
One is identical to what it raced with in 2024, which itself was an evolution of the version that it raced with in 2023.
But there is also believed to be a second, more aggressive concept that is trimmed much more to increase straightline speed even more.
Red Bull appears to have adopted a more aggressive lower downforce specification this year compared to what it ran 12 months ago.
At Monza in 2024, it introduced a bold wavy upper element that looked unique, but did not perform well. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had been left at the bottom of the speed traps in qualifying.
With the team conceding after Las Vegas that it needed a new solution for low downforce tracks, it has arrived in Monza with the same low-downforce spec that it ran at Silverstone and Spa – although perhaps it will be trimmed out some more.
Mercedes has so far appeared with a rear wing that appears to be a development of what it ran 12 months ago.
The wing features some revisions around the tip area, even though the main plane element looks unchanged.
